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Mothers in prison record books for their children

Aunt Mary’s Storybook Project records inmates as they are reading, and then mails a copy to that inmate’s children

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Inmate Amber Short records a story for her children. The recording will be copied onto a CD and sent to her children, allowing them to listen to their mother read to them even as she serves her sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women.

Image Courtney Hergeshiemer/Columbus Dispatch

By C1 Staff

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A prison program is offering inmates who are mothers a way to connect with their children.

Aunt Mary’s Storybook Project records inmates as they are reading, and then mails a copy to that inmate’s children. This year, it’ll be just in time for Christmas.

The Aunt Mary’s program has been offered through the Vineyard Columbus church for about nine years, and the inmate women choose from a variety of donated books.

The project was born in Chicago in 1993 and has since spread to other states. It was first offered in Ohio prisons in 1996, and is now available only at the women’s prison.